Thursday, November 22, 2012

Gateway Casino donated $24,500 to Diane Watts campaign in 2011

I stand all amazed. The Vancouver Province ran a profound article in today’s paper with two headlines in the printed edition. The first headline reads: “Donations won’t sway votes: Watts.” The second headline reads: “Casino backers chip in election contributions to Surrey First of $24,500 in 2011.” We could stop right there. Nothing else needs to be said. Except there’s more.

So Gateway Casinos want to build a Gambling Megatropolis in Surrey that will inadvertently be a haven for organized crime. Last year the casino made a huge donation to Dianne Watts campaign. This is Doug McCallum times a thousand. Then Diane Watts has the audacity to say those political contributions won’t sway votes on city council. That’s not very intelligent or honest.

Yeah, Eddie Murphy in Distinguished Gentlemen was a comical look at lobbying and corruption in politics. I'm actually kind of concerned for them. If the casinos donated that much money to their campaign and if the casinos are tied to organized crime, then if they vote no now they're going to be in big trouble. Debt collectors from organized crime wanting their campaign contribution back. It's very concerning.

Indeed. Yet the media wasn't *allowed* to publish the details about the secret development corporation she established. There are a lot of things going on that the general public are not aware of. Again not something I'm prepared to argue about. The conflict over the casino donations as well as the conflict over the development corporation need to be considered. At least now the media is finally reporting on the concerns. Winning a large popularity vote doesn't make taking bribes right.